The Falls of Niagara and Other Famous CataractsHolley, George W. (George Washington)
History
The Falls of Niagara and Other Famous Cataracts
Holley, George W. (George Washington)
Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.) -- Description and Travel; Niagara River (N.Y. and Ont.) -- History; Waterfalls
1881 Dr. H. and Mrs. S., of good birth, education, and social position,
loved not wisely but too well. Exposure was certain and near. They met
at Niagara, July 14th, and went over the Falls together.
--September 5th, a man from Toronto plunged into the rapids at Table
Rock, and went over. In a letter to a Toronto paper, he stated that
domestic trouble was the impelling motive.
BELOW THE FALLS.
In 1841 A number of British soldiers, stationed at Drummondville,
attempted to swim across the rapids at the ferry at different times.
None succeeded, and two were drowned.
1842 A British soldier attempted to lower himself down the bank,
opposite Barnett's Museum, in order to escape to the American shore. The
rope broke, and he was killed by the fall.
1844 In August, a gentleman was washed under the great Fall, from a rock
on which he had stepped, against the remonstrances of the guide. He was
drowned.
1846 In August, a gentleman fell forty feet from a rock near the Cave of
the Winds, and was instantly killed.
1875 August 9th, two young women and three young men, residents of the
village, went through the Cave of the Winds, as they had often done
before, to enjoy the exhilarating bath. One of the young women, Miss P.,
stepped into one of the eddying pools lying a little outside of the
usual track, and one of the young men, Mr. P., thinking she might find
the current stronger than she anticipated, followed her, and while
seeking a sure footing for himself to guard against accident, the young
lady lost her balance and fell into the current. Mr. P. endeavored to
seize her bathing-dress, but not succeeding, sprang at once into the
current, and both went over a ledge some eight feet high, at the foot of
which Miss P. rose to her feet in an eddy, and sought support by leaning
against a large rock lying adjacent to it. When Mr. P. rose to the
surface he swam to her, and thinking they would be safer in an opening
among smaller rocks on the opposite side of the eddy, he put his arm
round her, and both made a desperate effort to reach the desired
shelter. But the current proved too strong, and bore them both out into
the river; Mr. P. swimming on his back, and supporting Miss P. with his
right arm, while her right hand rested upon his shoulder. Suddenly they
became separated. Miss P., apparently concluding that both could not be
saved, disengaged herself from him, and immediately sank below the
surface. Instantly her heroic friend plunged after her. A cloud of spray
covered the troubled waters for a moment, and when it passed nothing
could be seen of the unfortunate pair. The treacherous under-currents
bore them to their doom. Both bodies were recovered a few days afterward
from the Whirlpool.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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